Self-guided activity: Gathering stories

What will you need?

• A place where you can sit comfortably and draw, and a table or flat surface to write against.
• A piece of paper, and pen or pencil.
• A person in your household who will work with you on a creative activity.

Step by step

In this activity, you will start by sitting by yourself and thinking. Later you will sit with someone from your household or connect with someone over the phone, have a conversation with them, and write some notes about what they say.

You can do all the steps in this activity immediately after each other, or take a break between each step, depending on what works best for you and the person you interview.

1. Close your eyes for a minute and think of a person from your household, your friends or community who might have a good story to tell you.
   This might be:
   -  a story they have told you many times before, about something that happened to them.
   -  a traditional story from your community’s culture or history.
   -  a story of something they experienced before you were born, or something that happened when they were far away from you.
   -  a story of an experience they had from which they learned an important lesson.
   -  a story they think is funny, or that you think is funny.
   -  an experience you both shared and remember – their version might be different from yours!

2. Write an invitation to that person to tell you the story.
   In your invitation, describe or explain the story you would like for them to tell or ask them to surprise you with a story. If you want, you can explain why you are interested in a specific story.

   Explain to them that you will be writing down and/or retelling their story in creative ways for this activity. You should also write that you would like to share the story with others, so the person should tell a story that they are comfortable with being shared. In your invitation, suggest a time and place for you to connect to hear their story.

3. Deliver or send your invitation to the person.
   For example, you can deliver it as a written invitation, or by reading or explaining your invitation aloud to the person you chose.
4. At the time and place you have agreed to, sit or connect with that person, and listen as they share their story. Write notes or drawings about the story as they tell it.
   Try to listen without interrupting but ask them follow-up questions to encourage them to tell you more or to share important details. Remember to thank them for sharing their story!
   If they permit it, you can also take a photo of them while they share the story.
5. After the interview, write down their story. Find creative ways to express the special details of their story and include quotes from them and emphasize surprising moments.
6. Share the story with the person. You may want to share your written story or perform a storytelling for them and/or for others in your family by reading it aloud.

Create more

• Add to and revise your written story, including important details you remember.
• Add drawings and illustrations. You can also recreate the story as a cartoon or turn it into a theatre play.
• Organize a storytelling event with others in your household or friends over the phone.
• You can make an audio or video recording of your event.
• Create a fictional story based on the real-life story you gathered. Imagine a different ending, different people and that it happens in a completely new place!

Share

Online:

• Send a photo of your story and anything else that you created with the chat group.
• Look for more messages from the chat group to see what other adolescents have created.
• Participate in the conversation!

Everyone (online and offline):

• Keep your story somewhere where you can read it again.
• Explain why you chose to “gather” this story to the person who shared the story. Share more about why you enjoy it, find it interesting or important.
• Invite others in your household to gather stories from each other, or from you. Hold a storytelling event or save your stories in a notebook so you can collect them all over time and remember them.